We’ve said it before, things are beginning to happen at a rapid pace and the authorities are absolutely and completely helpless to do anything about it. Not for lack of money, have you, for they are second in line behind the banks to pick at the money tree. No, the authorities lack the one thing that is indispensable to getting things done. Credibility.

Have things improved for you, fellow taxpayer? Unless you are a banker, lobbyist, are a contractor who works for a banker or lobbyist, the answer is probably no.

And we haven’t even begun to talk “austerity” on US shores.

But first, we are obligated to take a peek at what the G-8 is doing. We suspect we know but it is important to confirm ones suspicions.

From the Associated Press:

DEAUVILLE, France (AP) — Rich countries and international lenders are aiming to provide $40 billion in funding for Arab nations trying to establish true democracies, officials said at a Group of Eight summit Friday.

Officials didn’t fully detail the sources of the money, or how it would be used, but the thrust was clearly to underpin democracy in Egypt and Tunisia — where huge public uprisings ousted autocratic regimes this year — and put pressure on repressive rulers in Syria and Libya.

We suspected more aid to someone but this appears even more misguided than we thought. The first line of the second paragraph is especially laughable but you can see where this is going. We speculated Wednesday about the events in Palestine getting ready to take center stage, largely as a distraction to the “utter and complete collapse” of the world’s current financial system.

The G-8 is now throwing what is left of their credibility into extending their influence in the Middle East. They have Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Egypt and Tunisia as footholds. Will they be strong enough to hang on to this newfound influence? Only time will tell if the new regimes can be bribed as easily as the old ones.

The credibility of the Western Governments and their worn out welfare state economic models is nearly spent. In Greece, the IMF / Eurozone bailout participants are finding out that the Greek politicians don’t have the collective stomach to play the repo man on their countrymen’s future.

It appears that the government is refusing more austerity measures and is rethinking whether or not this whole Euro adventure is such a good idea. Failure to agree now places the spotlight on the IMF / Eurozone plunge protection team. Will they have the stomach to let Greece default?

The gauntlet has been thrown down, and what happens to Greece will set the tone for how the inevitable sovereign defaults of the Western Governments are likely to play out. Are the Greeks the Lehman Brothers of Sovereigns?

With protests in nearly every major city, their resolve grows with every passing day. In Barcelona, one day before Barça plays for the Champions Cup against Manchester, the authorities attempted to clear Plaça Catalunya to clean it in anticipation of the celebrations that would surely take place there when Barça, led by the great Liionel Messi, wins the cup.

With over 100 persons injured between protestors and police officers, they will now have to clean up blood in the square. The Spanish authorities, not unlike their western peers, just don’t get it. The old way of doing things is over, fini. The youth are taking matters into their own hands. With 45% of the Spanish youth unemployed, their sheer numbers, if they stay at it, will simply overwhelm the authorities.

A final piece of news to share with you here at The Mint, the US Housing Market has finally capitulated. In other words, it is now safe to buy a house. The hope that the US Government and Central Bank could somehow revive this market has left town on the same train as the US Government’s credibility.

The US Government lost its credibility most recently as it continues to bicker over meaningless spending cuts as the nation thunders towards an imminent default on its sovereign debt and by affirming the Unconstitutional Patriot Act, which essentially gave legislative authority for the US to become the wards of an international police state.

The brave souls who gave their lives to create and protect a free America must be rolling over in their graves this Memorial Day.

*See FED Perceived Economic Effect Rate Chart at bottom of blog. This rate is the FED Target rate with a 39 month lag, representing the time it takes for the FED Target rate changes to affect the real economy. This is a 39 months head start that the FED member banks have on the rest of us on using the new money that is created.

If the events of the past week have not convinced you that there has been a permanent, fundamental change in the financial markets, perhaps nothing will. As much as the numbers seem to stay the same, one has the sense that something is very, irreparably, wrong.

Trust that sense.

If you are trying to put your finger on what is causing the uneasiness you are feeling, allow us to offer our humble opinion. The world is coming to the realization that all of the financial rescue programs that have been floated as the “cure” to the financial crisis by various Central Banks and Governments have done nothing useful.

To put it harshly, they have not only failed, they have made things worse.

What they have done is to buy time for the banks to sell out of their losing positions and be made whole at the taxpayers’ expense. Now, the jig is up.

The taxpayers see that the fix is in and are calling for the heads of their elected officials. For the most part, the heads have been handed over peacefully via democratic elections. Those that still have their heads are quickly backpedaling and distancing themselves from any Government sponsored bailouts.

With the resolve of the Governments of the west to continue “bailing out” the financial sector clearly in doubt, the heavy lifting is left to the ultimate and most deserving scapegoats, the central banks.

But what can they do? Their only solution involves further exposing themselves for the fraud they are. “If the central bank can simply print the money to pay debts, why should I work?” is the cry from the Proletariat.

It has taken a different tone in the Arab world, where revolution has increasingly been the rule ever since the Gregorian calendar turned to 2011. The media explains what is happening in the Middle East as a “cry for democracy,” as if all of these people would be appeased if they could simply have the pleasure of voting for their dictator, as we do in the west.

No, the Middle East is burning due to the confluence of 1,300 years of festering hatred which for the past 90 years has had the Israeli / Palestinian conflict as its flashpoint and rapidly rising prices for basic necessities, which have always been dear in the desert regions.

These rising prices, of course, are the direct result of the debauchery of the currencies by western central banks.

From our vantage point, it is clear that the central banks have no more room to maneuver and that they will soon throw in the towel as well. Central banking as we know it is expiring.

So who will bail out the western governments and central banks? The taxpayers who have grown to loathe them? Don’t count on it. The simple answer is that no one will. What logically follows is that the world is about to embark upon an amazing journey called “price discovery.” A journey that has been delayed for three long years by the meddling of the authorities will now begin without further delay.

One of the first discoveries will be to find out what are Greek Bonds are worth. Nobody really knows, but unofficially the 10 year note is trading at 51 cents on the dollar. And now the barbarians from the north are storming down demanding that the Greeks make good on their austerity measures or else lose their support which would mean an almost immediate default by the Greeks.

But with riots becoming a way of life, the Greeks are beginning to wonder aloud whether or not the pain is worth it. Our guess is that the barbarians will relent in an attempt to save the Euro. You see, the Greeks still hold the ultimate trump card, as do we all, of defaulting on their debt and doing business in another currency. For the Greeks, it would mean a return to the drachma.

Will they play it?

With the utter and complete failure of the world financial system at hand, those who soberly decided not to heed Harold Camping’s rapture warning and are looking forward to a world that will exist post October 21. We believe that the world will increasingly turn their collective attention to Palestine.

The summary is that Palestine needs a miracle for there to be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This conflict will move to center stage as a distraction to the aforementioned utter and complete failure of the world financial system.

What has become crystal clear to us over the past two months is that if there is not peace in Jerusalem, there cannot be peace in the world. Those of us who believe in Jesus (if you do not, please accept this as an invitation to believe) will not be raptured until there is peace in Jerusalem. We do not know exactly why, we simply know that this is true.

*See FED Perceived Economic Effect Rate Chart at bottom of blog. This rate is the FED Target rate with a 39 month lag, representing the time it takes for the FED Target rate changes to affect the real economy. This is a 39 months head start that the FED member banks have on the rest of us on using the new money that is created.

Like this:

It appears that the Chinese Socialist / Communist Experiment is beginning to rapidly unravel. From AP:

Rising prices are a political threat to China’s communist leaders and they have declared taming inflation their priority. But they suffered a setback in March, when a double-digit jump in food costs pushed inflation to a 32-month high of 5.4 percent. That was despite four interest rate hikes since October, curbs on bank lending and government orders to producers to hold down price increases.

Logically, this means price controls…

Attempts at price controls, subsidies for the poor and orders to local leaders to guarantee adequate vegetable supplies have had mixed results.

But price controls have nasty side effects…

In the southeast, export regions are suffering power shortages that force factories to suspend production every other day. Power companies are squeezed between low state-set rates and high gas and coal prices, so they have avoided adding more generating capacity despite double-digit annual increases in demand.

Enough said, right? But My favorite part is where the government promises to “manage” vegetable prices…

“I think you should have confidence in the Chinese government’s capability in managing vegetable prices well,” said a deputy commerce minister, Fu Ziying, at a news conference this week. He gave no time frame for when inflation might subside.

Centrally managing an economy is a futile and destructive exercise. Price controls of any kind inevitably lead to shortages. The Chinese are now taking a step backwards on their road to a Capitalist economic model.

Unfortunately, when you take a step backwards out of a high speed train going 400km per hour (which is what the Chinese economy essentially is), you can imagine that the results are not pretty. Unfortunately, the Chinese authorities are about to push the Chinese People off of the train.

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